


I Thought It Was Just A Myth

by RutabagaBurger



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fisherman Iwaizumi, M/M, Mermaid Akaashi, Mermaid Kenma, Mermaid Oikawa, Mermaid Yahaba, fisherman Bokuto, fisherman Kuroo, mermaid Kageyama, mermaid Miya Atsumu, mermaid Semi, mermaid Shirabu, mermaid Sugawara, mermaid Ukai
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:41:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29341497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RutabagaBurger/pseuds/RutabagaBurger
Summary: The ocean is filled with many wonders, many not discovered by the land-dwellers. The waters are calm down below, creatures of all kinds coexisting. The waters are a beautiful place to live with many things to explore. The ocean is filled with more species than land-dwellers will ever know, and these species are happy with the way it is. The land-dwellers have never bothered them and they’ve never bothered the land-dwellers. Sometimes, the creatures will go close to the surface to observe them. While the ones from the land are sometimes dangerous, the curious creatures can’t help but watch them and learn more about them.Two of these unknown creatures are gliding through the water at a leisurely pace. The ocean isn’t as deep in these parts, but this is where they want to be. The playful creatures look similar to the land-dwellers on the upper half of their bodies, while their bottom half is a fin.aka- the pretty setter squad are mermaids and they meet some humans
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi
Comments: 11
Kudos: 87





	1. Chapter 1

The ocean is filled with many wonders, many not discovered by the land-dwellers. The waters are calm down below, creatures of all kinds coexisting. The waters are a beautiful place to live with many things to explore. The ocean is filled with more species than land-dwellers will ever know, and these species are happy with the way it is. The land-dwellers have never bothered them and they’ve never bothered the land-dwellers. Sometimes, the creatures will go close to the surface to observe them. While the ones from the land are sometimes dangerous, the curious creatures can’t help but watch them and learn more about them.

Two of these unknown creatures are gliding through the water at a leisurely pace. The ocean isn’t as deep in these parts, but this is where they want to be. The playful creatures look similar to the land-dwellers on the upper half of their bodies, while their bottom half is a fin. 

Land-dwellers have called them many names, names given based on stories from many, many years ago. These stories are seen as myths now.

The two creatures are slowly approaching one of their favorite spots. This garden in the ocean is home to many creatures, making it an ideal place to hunt and just swim around looking for treasure that interests them. It wasn’t too big, but big enough for plenty of wildlife to make their home here.

One of the creatures, a slightly longer fish with a purple tail, black, curly hair, and gunmetal blue eyes, has his eyes on an item half-buried in the sand below. The sun is reflecting off the object and Akaashi loves shiny objects. He swims closer and traces a finger on it. It’s a metal object, maybe the size of Akaashi’s head. He tugs on it to get it out from the sand.

Even though it must have been dropped here not too long ago, within the week, the water currents tend to bury items. “Akaashi, I’m going to go see what I can find by the rock.” 

Akaashi lifts his head to where his companion, Kenma is. His red and white tail treading behind the boy as he heads towards the large rock on the shelf. 

When they were younger, they would always play around the rock and with the other creatures that lived around there. 

Akaashi went back to investigating his treasure, finding its shape odd, even though he has found a few objects just like this one before. He doesn’t know what it would be used for.

Kenma approaches the rock looking for animals that they could take back to the rest of their pod to eat. His golden eyes focus in on a crab he sees scurrying under a coral. Kenma was always the best at grabbing the smaller animals so he was confident that he could grab this crab and any other he sees.

Kenma looked back over to where Akaashi was settled. He had the shiny item in one hand while he was starting to collect seaweed with the other. Kenma didn’t understand why he and some of the others had a fascination with the land-dwellers’ lost possessions. Kenma didn’t find them all that intriguing, seeing as half of them looked like slightly different variants of each other. He wouldn’t mind knowing what they did, but that was as far as his curiosity with them went. 

Kenma turned his focus back to where the crab disappeared to only to have something else catch his eye. Not too far from where the little garden was, a net was being dragged across the ocean floor. Following the line that connected the rope to the top, Kenma spotted the bottom of a land-dwellers boat. 

That wasn’t a good sign. He and Akaashi should go back to their home where it was safe. He was going to turn back to Akaashi when a cry startled him. He turned back to the net to find a baby dolphin was trapped in the rope. Two older dolphins were circling it while another made its way towards Kenma. 

This wasn’t unusual. Some of the bigger, gentle creatures often came to the mermaids for help. They’ve all helped their fair share of dolphins, turtles, whales, and seals, and sometimes sharks. Kenma swam to the dolphin, letting it brush against him and nudge him towards where the others were. Once the dolphin was sure Kenma was going to help, it started towards Akaashi, who was already making his way over, the item he found forgotten.

Kenma approached the net carefully and did his best to assess the situation. With as much caution as he could have, he started to tug and pull on the rope trapping the dolphin. The baby wasn’t too stuck and getting him out won’t be as difficult as other times that similar things have happened.

Another set of hands were reaching out, trying to calm the baby. One hand was gently placed on the side of its head while the other made its way to the rope. 

A mechanical whirring sound came from above them and the two mermaids looked up towards the boat. They met eyes and began working faster.

The other dolphins were crying out again, but Kenma was focused solely on getting the baby free. In his focused state, he didn’t notice when the net loosely wrapped itself around his own fin. 

With one final tug, the baby dolphin was freed, immediately swimming to her mom. The other dolphins started giving happy cheers, thanking the two mermaids.

Akaashi and Kenma went to move away from the net so that they weren’t in harm’s way either when Kenma finally realized that something had happened. He looked down to his tail to find he was now stuck in the net. And the net was still being dragged up towards the boat.

Akaashi turned to find his friend now stuck and panic struck him. He tried desperately to get the smaller boy out from the net. The dolphins were now worried for Kenma and cried out again. They were getting closer and closer to the surface. Kenma’s eyes were blown wide and a screech let everyone around know that he was in danger.

The top of the net was now outside of the water and Akaashi had to stop yanking on the rope when the mother dolphin nudged him away so he wouldn’t get caught as well. 

“It’s okay Kenma. I’ll get you back. I won’t let them hurt you.” The two maintained eye contact until Kenma was buried in the other fish in the net and he was lifted out of the water. 

Akaashi wasn’t going to let the land-dwellers take Kenma. He was going to get him back before anything bad happened to him. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


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“Kuroo if you don’t get your ass up and start doing something, I’m going to throw you overboard.”

Kuroo heard a loud laugh from Bokuto as he slowly stood up. The sun was bearing down on them today and there wasn’t a lot of wind today. Kuroo lifted his arms above his head and stretched. “What’s the matter, Iwaizumi? Besides, we don’t have anything to do right now. The net’s already in the water.”

Kuroo heard a grumble of irritation coming from the direction that Iwaizumi was at and smirked. Figuring that he might as well do something now that he’s up, he made his way inside the closed-off area of the ship. Iwaizumi looked up from his spot by a stack of papers. His pen stopped when Kuroo stepped inside.

Kuroo sat down opposite of him and picked up one of the papers. It was a letter from the store they sell the fish they catch. Takeda wrote to them saying the shop was doing well and they might need more salmon than they were previously catching. 

Humming, Kuroo sat up and slid the paper over to the other man. “Should we leave the nets in longer than usual?”

Iwaizumi skimmed through the letter and then shrugged. “Maybe ten extra minutes. I don’t want to go too long, we can only handle so much weight in our nets.”

Kuroo nodded and stood to go tell the other fisherman who was currently standing at the back of the ship. “Bo, we’re gonna leave the nets in for ten minutes longer than usual.’ Bo turned to Kuroo, a smile already in place. 

“Alright, but Kuroo, look!” An arm was pointing at something in the water. “It’s a pod of dolphins. I think I even saw a baby. They’ve been following the boat.”

The two men watch the dolphins for a little bit, but then the dolphins disappear below the surface.

“I hope they don’t get stuck in the net.” 

  
Placing a hand on his friend’s back, Kuroo agrees. He always feels bad when they catch other forms of sea life and they all try and get them back into the water as quickly as they can after making sure they aren’t injured. Bokuto tends to get in depressed moods when other animals find their way into their nets so they try to get them out as quickly and safely as possible.

Kuroo and Bokuto make their way near the hold, where they keep the fish they catch and shove each other around until Iwaizumi yells at them to quit. The two laugh and continue to joke around, although in a less physical way to appease their local grump.

Before long, Iwaizumi is back out yelling at them again and then telling them to reel in the nets. Iwaizumi and Bokuto go to the manual rig where they have to turn the wheel to reel in the net. A whirring sound starts as they begin turning and Kuroo stands on the side of the ship checking to make sure the net is lifted without incident.

They rotate who has to reel the net in and who gets to guide the net. This way, no one complained about doing more work than the other. Kuroo got lucky today and gets to guide the net. 

Kuroo leans over the edge and is waiting for the net to show up from below the water. Once he is able to see it, he also notices the presence of the dolphins from earlier. He gets a bad feeling they accidentally trapped one of them. As the net starts rising above the surface, Kuroo sees what looks like a human hand below the water. He shakes his head and looks back at the water, only to see no hand. The heat must be getting to him. Maybe he should sit down after this. 

The net is fully lifted out of the water, and Kuroo is noticing that they caught a decent amount of fish today. He smirked knowing the storefront will be happy about this.

The net is lifted above the rim of the boat and Kuroo is able to reach out and grab onto some of the rope so he could pull it towards the middle of the ship towards the hold. Once the rig was right above the hold, he opened it and then released the net so it spilled into the box.

After he released the net, he began searching for the dolphin he thought was accidentally caught. He reached down and started pushing the fish aside so he could find the mammal.

The next thing he saw was definitely not a dolphin. Kuroo straightened out in surprise before looking back down to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.

“What is it Kuroo?” Bokuto had made his way over once he saw the dolphins resurface with cries and Kuroo bent over sifting through their catch. Iwaizumi was following as well, not ready to deal with a depressed Bokuto.

Kuroo was still looking down at what he found, his eyes wide and unmoving. Instead of a dolphin, there was a boy with two-toned hair that reached his shoulders. His eyes were wide and frantic. As Kuroo looked farther down, he saw the boy had no shirt on. He also noted that the boy was very, very cute.

As shocked as he was to pull a boy from the water, nothing was as shocking as the tail attached to the boy. From his hips down, scales covered him. Down the center of his tail was white, which faded into a brownish-red. It was covered in a few white spots and his caudal fin was a deep orange and red with white in the tips. When the boy flipped over in his panic, Kuroo noticed that it was a burnt red color. The dorsal fin that stretched down his entire fin was a mix of red and white.

It was beautiful. Kuroo was mesmerized. He barely even noticed when Bokuto and Iwaizumi reached them and saw the boy as well. He barely noticed when they both took in a sharp inhale of breath. He did notice when the boy let out an inhuman screech. 

He did notice when the dolphins cried out from the water. 

And he definitely noticed when something else hit the boat from below, shaking the boat.


	2. Chapter 2

Kuroo grabbed onto the edge of the hold as the boat gave a sudden rock. He heard something ram into the side and it must be big to move the ship as it did. The boy in the hold lets out another cry. His eyes are impossibly wider and he’s squirming around trying to find a way out. He reaches up towards the edge of the hold but hesitates once he sees the three of them above them.

The three fishermen had no idea what to do. Bokuto was looking between the hold and the side of the boat, where something is hitting it. Iwaizumi is the first to say something. 

“It’s a…” He rubs his eyes. “A mermaid.” 

Even though they were seeing the proof, they were having trouble trying to comprehend and believe the situation. Mermaids weren’t real. This couldn’t be possible. And yet, it was.

Clearing his throat, Iwaizumi turned to Bokuto. “Bo, go see what’s attacking us. Kuroo, help me get him out of here.” The other two men snapped into action. 

Bokuto ran to the edge of the boat and looked down right as the ship was shaken again. He was able to see a glimpse of a purple tail before it swam off. The dolphins were still circling the area and were still crying out. 

Looking into the water, Bokuto was able to see when the purple tail returned, with a pale body attached to it. It was moving at a face pace and that was all Bokuto could tell before it slammed into the ship. Bokuto’s grip on the railing got tighter as he fought against falling. 

Bokuto thought the creature would swim away again and ram the boat, but he was surprised when the creature rises above the water and tried to grab him. Their ship wasn’t very big and that led the other to come very close to reaching Bokuto. He sank back into the water but he screeched. This was almost worse than the other mermaid’s.

That thought startled Bokuto as he realized what was happening.

They accidentally caught a mermaid. And another mermaid isn’t happy about it. This one is willing to fight the much larger boat to get the other back. This mermaid has black, curly hair and gunmetal blue eyes. Bokuto thought he was beautiful. The mermaid let out a hiss and tried to claw at Bokuto again. 

“Bo! What’s attacking us?”

Oh, right. The others. Bokuto turned to them to see Kuroo holding the boy by his arms, trying to pull him up as he tried to fight against the hold. Iwaizumi was trying to grab him by his tail, but the boy was unwilling to stay still. Bokuto noticed a bit of blood on Kuroo’s arms. The mermaid must have scratched him.

“It’s another one! He’s not very happy.” Another bang to the ship left Bokuto stumbling. The other two men lost their grips and the mermaid slipped back into the hold. The two men groaned and a curse was heard from Iwaizumi.

“Not happy!? Really? I wouldn’t of guessed!” I think it was safe to say that Iwaizumi was not in a good mood right now. Bokuto didn’t like being around Iwaizumi when he was seriously mad. Instead, he turned back towards the side to find the other mermaid grabbing onto the railing, his hands reaching out for Bokuto’s shoe which was right in front of him. As the fingers, with long, sharp nails, reached his boot, Bokuto jerked back. The mermaid didn’t like his plans being foiled and let out another hiss, followed by a screech when he spotted the smaller mermaid being lifted again. 

The caught mermaid was almost out of the hold, continuously slipping out of the two fishermen’s grip. “We’re not going to hurt you, stop struggling!” Kuroo seemed to also be losing patience.

The boat shook again, and then the mermaid in the water grabbed back onto the railing, seeming like he was trying to rip it off. Bokuto had no idea what to do. Did he try and swat it off? He doesn’t want to hurt the other.

“Enough! Stop attacking the boat, we’re trying to get him back into the water. We’re not trying to hurt him. Just, please stop!” Iwaizumi was very frustrated. He reached back down to try once again to get a hold of the mermaid’s fin and he was surprised to find that the boy stopped struggling.

The other two fishermen were looking at the mermaid in the water, who had stopped attacking. He still looked aggressive and protective, but he wasn’t trying to rip the railing off anymore. His blue eyes were staring down Kuroo and Iwaizumi. 

The fishermen shared glances with each other. Did the mermaids listen to them? “Do you understand us?” The protective mermaid hesitated before moving his eyes to Bokuto’s. Bokuto could feel his heartbeat quicken and his cheeks turn flushed. He really was beautiful.

When the two got Kenma out of the hold, the mermaid’s eyes were trained back onto them. The boy is probably heavier than he looks, especially with the tail, and Bokuto could see that with how it’s taking both Kuroo and Iwaizumi to lift him. Bokuto decides to be helpful and helps to support the boy. The three of them shuffle towards the edge of the boat, the mermaid is stiff in their arms. He’s also defensive, even if he isn’t fighting back anymore.

They make it to the edge and the other mermaid let himself float a few feet away from the boat so that there’s room to drop in the captured one. The dolphins had stopped crying out, but they were still there.

The three lifted the mermaid above the railing and lowered him into the water, trying not to be too rough in case they got on the other’s nerves again. Once the smaller one was in the water, the bigger one was clinging on to him in an instant and pushing away from the boat. He was inspecting the blonde boy to make sure he wasn’t injured. He did have a few scrapes and bruises forming, but it wasn’t anything serious. The bigger one looked worse off after ramming into the boat tho, his shoulder turning a dark color.

Kuroo leaned against the railing and watched them with wonder. Once the mermaids looked like they were going to go under, Kuroo put one hand under his chin as he watched them. “You’re welcome.”

The two snapped their heads towards them. The blonde one lowered his head and looked away, almost as if he was shy. The black-haired one made eye contact with each of the men before nodding his head, as if in gratitude.    
  


After that, the two disappeared under the surface, a burnt red tail and purple tail the last thing the fishermen saw before they were gone.

They continued to stand there, trying to comprehend everything that just happened. They stood there for several minutes. Kuroo was the first to speak. “I would think I imagined all that if my arms weren’t in a lot of pain.”

Bokuto and Iwaizumi looked down at his arms and saw the red scratch marks that were present. Blood was dripping from his arm onto the ground. Now that Iwaizumi wasn’t focused on something else, he noticed he had a few scratches as well.

Bokuto ran off to go find the medkits they kept in the cabin while Iwaizumi followed after him at a much slower pace. Kuroo continued to stand on the side, looking out into the water. He could see the pod of dolphins swimming in the distance, having left after the mermaid was returned to the water. Slowly turning, he shook his head went after the others.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


\--------------------------------------------

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Once below the water, Akaashi continued his analysis on Kenma. They were both shaking, having never dealt with something like this before. They’ve both had their run-ins with aggressive sharks, but humans were much different.

The dolphins were below the water with them, checking to make sure they were both okay. Akaashi gave the mother dolphin a pat when she came close and told her it was okay. After that, the dolphin family swam away, the baby giving a squeak of thanks before catching up with the others.

Akaashi was checking Kenma’s tail, making sure it wasn’t damaged. He found a couple of scales had been torn off, but other than that, it was fine. A hand on Akaashi’s shoulder made him flinch in pain. 

Looking at it, he found it to be worse than what he originally thought it would be. While he had used his body to slam into the boat, he didn’t think he had done this much damage to himself. It would probably take a few days to heal. Other than the shoulder and a few other bruises, Akaashi was physically fine. 

“Are you okay?” Akaashi had never had to be this defensive before. Suga and Oikawa were the protective ones. He could only imagine what would have happened if they were here.

“I’m fine, Akaashi. Are you?” With a nod of his head, Kenma grabbed the other’s hand and tugged him. “Ok, then let’s go home.” Another nod and the two were off, more cautious than they were when they had first arrived at the garden. Akaashi saw the shiny object that had first attracted his attention and he decided he would come back for it another day.

It didn’t take them very long to get to the cave the pod lives in. As they approached, they saw a few of the younger ones playing in the kelp forest out front. Kageyama and Yahaba were playing with Takeru, Oikawa’s nephew.

All the members of their current pod were once part of others. It wasn’t unusual for mermaids to go live with a different pod than the one they were born into. Oikawa was going to come to this pod by himself when Takeru was born but brought him with him. 

Mermaids were like many other species in the animal kingdom. If a pup was born and they weren’t healthy or weak, the mother often rejected the baby. That’s what Takeru’s mother did, so Oikawa decided to take Takeru with him when he joined the pod he lives in now.

They all made sure to keep an eye on Takeru and they got to watch him become stronger and better. While Kageyama and Yahabe weren’t as young as Takeru, they were still younger than the others in the group. The others weren’t much older themselves, except for Ukai, who lead the pod.

As Akaashi and Kenma made their way towards the cave entrance, Kageyama spotted them and stopped swimming. He quirked his head when he saw the state they were in but a small smile from Akaashi told him they were okay. He went back to chasing after Yahaba, who was currently hiding behind a clump of kelp.

They entered the cave only to be immediately questioned by one of the occupants of the room. “What happened to you two?” Semi’s voice attracted the attention of Suga and Ukai, who were grabbing some fish they had stored. Suga swam over to Akaashi as fast as he could, trying to assess the damage done. 

Ukai demanded they tell him what happened and Akaashi told him everything. Kenma only gave his input every once in a while, feeling grateful the other decided to tell the story.

After the others were informed of the situation, Oikawa came into the cave with Atsumu right on his tail. The two of them wanted to know everything that happened as well, so Akaashi had to retell what happened, giving a shorter version of what he told Ukai.

“Suga we should go with them when they go out for a while. I don’t want anything else happening to them.” Akaashi sighed, knowing this was going to happen. Oikawa and Suga were very protective of their pod and they always made sure everyone was safe and okay.

“I agree. What a wonderful suggestion Oikawa.” Suga fussed over the two a little more before going back to help Ukai get the food ready. Atsumu had handed over a few small squids that he and Oikawa had caught that day. Shirabu returned a little bit after that, the three who were out playing following him in. 

Once everyone was there and Shirabu shared the seaweed he had collected, they all chomped down on their meals. The boys’ sharp teeth and sharp nails helped dig into the fish as they tore and bit.

After they finished eating, all of them listened to some of the other, less intense stories of the day were. Shirabu apparently had an encounter with a whale they’ve all seen swimming around the area. The mermaids all loved this whale and had even named her Pepper for the different colored bumps on her blubber.

The pod of dolphins finally winded down and made themselves comfortable on the ground of their cave. They used each other as pillows and anyone who looked on them from the outside would just see a tangle of limbs and tails. 

Besides the mess it appears to be, none of the mermaids would want it anyother way. 

They were a family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof don’t know how i feel about the ending of this chapter but oh well lol  
> hope you enjoyed! :)


	3. Chapter 3

“You were attacked by what?” 

“A mermaid.”

“Two mermaids, actually.”

Iwaizumi sighed as Kuroo and Bokuto continued to tell the doctor what had happened. 

Kiyoko side-eyed Iwaizumi before returning to the task at hand. She was currently tending to the scratches on Kuroo’s arm. Iwaizumi knew they sounded crazy, which is why he had wanted to lie about what had attacked them. He also told the other two that he wasn’t going to back them up if they told anyone. 

So here he is, ignoring everything Kuroo and Bokuto are telling the doctor in favor of looking out the window next to him. 

“And he was kind of cute.” Iwaizumi’s eyes narrowed and he slowly turned towards Kuroo. “What? He was! I’m just being honest.”

Kiyoko was wrapping his arm in gauze. “Yes, honesty is the best course of action.” Iwaizumi snorted at that. The doctor obviously didn’t believe their story and he couldn’t blame her. He wouldn’t believe it if he wasn’t there himself.

“I agree, he was really pretty. Even though he was trying to kill I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful he was.”

Kuroo flinched a little when Kiyoko patted his arm telling him he was done before she turned to Iwaizumi and began to tend to him as well. “Wait, which one are you talking about, Bo? The black-haired one?”

“Yeah, he was so gorgeous!” Iwaizumi grunted as Kiyoko put some ointment onto one of his cuts. He just wanted to go back to his home and never hear this conversation ever again.

Kuroo shook his head. “I was talking about the other one.” This only got Bokuto even more excited, saying that they each got their own, and telling Iwaizumi that they were sure there was one for him somewhere in the depths of the ocean.

Iwaizumi really wanted to go home. Luckily, Kiyoko finished wrapping up his cuts and they were all showed out by the nurse, Asahi. Iwaizumi apologized to both of them for his rowdy crew’s behavior, to which Kiyoko gave a small smile and a wave of her hand to tell him it was fine.

As soon as they got outside the doctor’s clinic, Iwaizumi said his goodbyes to Kuroo and Bokuto. “You both sound crazy when you talk about what happened. I would keep your mouths closed before someone decides to punch some sense into you. My guess is that Daichi will take the first swing.”

This only made the other two cackle with glee. Kuroo was the first to catch his breath in order to say something. “Daichi is always trying to find an excuse to hit us. Let's go find him and rile him up.”

“He’s working right now.”

“Yeah! Let’s go!”

“If he kicks you two off the dock I’m going to find new crewmates.”

“I bet he misses us, Bo.”

“I bet he doesn’t.”

“You think? Race you there!”

With another sigh, the two were off towards the docks. Daichi runs the docks and him and Iwaizumi were good friends. Sometimes, Daichi even joined them out on sea if he wasn’t terribly busy on the dock. He was just waiting to see how long before Daichi informs Iwaizumi that he needs a new crew because he threw those two overboard at a disclosed location. So far, it hasn’t happened. But that doesn’t mean it won’t. 

Iwaizumi turned away and headed in the opposite direction, toward his home.

\------------------------------------------------------

“I’m fine, Suga.” Kenma has been trying to tell Suga that he was good and didn’t need Suga to babysit him.

Suga disagreed and didn’t let him out of his sight for a week now. Akaashi and Kenma were forced to stay in their cave and their kelp forest for the first few days, finally being let out a couple of days ago, which honestly didn’t feel much different. The only time Suga wasn’t right on his tail, was when he and Oikawa switched. Oikawa was currently doing the same with Akaashi. The two mermaids were getting fed up with the other two but that didn’t stop the overprotective duo.

“I know, I just want to make sure you’re safe.” Suga was currently looking under a small rock he picked up for something they could eat, a face of disappointment let Kenma know he didn’t find anything. Kenma decided he might as well be helpful and started looking around himself. He and Akaashi knew the two were just worried, and that they didn’t mind them not letting them out of their sights. What bothered them was that they couldn’t go more than a baby whale’s length away without the babysitters freaking out.

A sound of excitement had Kenma turning over to the silver-haired mermaid, who was holding up a small octopus. “I found a snack!” 

They both made their way to a bigger rock and sat down on it. Suga’s tail was dark blue with lighter accents on his pectoral fins and caudal fin. It was a big contrast from Kenma’s own red tail. 

Suga handed the octopus to Kenma first, letting him take the first bite before he passed it back to Suga. Their sharp teeth dug into the invertebrate, making quick work of killing it. 

During one of the moments that Suga was biting into the food, Kenma looked up towards the surface. They were in a different part of the waters, the opposite direction from where the incident had happened. That’s probably why the boat took Kenma by surprise. 

He wasn’t positive, but he was pretty sure this was the same boat from last week. 

He started to swim up to get a better look, but a hand grabbed his fin. “What are you doing? Don’t get close to it. You know what happened last time.”

Kenma squirmed out of Suga’s hold. “I just want to take a peak. I won’t get close.”

Suga didn’t seem happy by this decision but he also knew Kenma was going to get his way with this. If there was one thing most of the pod had in common, it was that they were stubborn. Suga is very stubborn, but admittedly, he was also curious about the boat. 

He loved collecting forgotten items of land-dwellers. They had a separate cave under their home where they kept all the treasure they found. A lot of the items were oddly shaped, leaving the mermaids clueless as to what they could be used for.

Kenma and Suga made their way up, reaching the bottom of the boat. Currently, the boat didn’t have a net in the water, but it was moving, trying to reach some unknown destination. Kenma reached out and touched the boat, to which Suga gave a small hiss. “Don’t touch it!” Kenma retracted his hand with a small apology. 

Once he was positive that Kenma wasn’t going to touch it, he let his own curiosity wander. He slowly made his way under the boat and was inspecting it. Despite not letting Kenma touch it, he gently put a finger on the bottom and moved it. He grimaced, not liking the texture of it.

His sole focus for a few seconds was on the boat, which is probably why he didn’t notice as Kenma popped his head above the surface.

\------------------------------------------------------

After a week, Bokuto and Kuroo were starting to lose hope of ever seeing the mermaids again.

Iwaizumi was getting fed up with their behavior, just wanting them to focus more on doing their jobs rather than daydreaming.

Kuroo was leaning against the railing on the edge of the ship, looking out on the horizon. They had just left the docks a few minutes ago, the town getting smaller and smaller behind them. Once they hoisted up the anchor, untied from the dock, and made it onto the open seas, they only needed one person to steer. And that person was Iwaizumi.

It’s not that Kuroo and Bokuto couldn’t steer, because they could. Iwaizumi didn’t let them on his crew until he was confident in their steering. Kuroo needed a little extra teaching than Bokuto did, who had a sailor for a father. 

Despite both of the crewmates knowing how to steer, Iwaizumi preferred to do it himself. The only time either of them steered the boat was if there was a problem neither of them could fix.

While Iwaizumi steered the boat, Kuroo and Bokuto would laze about or play around, the latter usually getting them a scolding or two. Never stopped them though. 

Kuroo looked back toward where the village should be only to see it gone. They must have traveled farther than he realized. He squinted up at the sun to see that it had risen quite a bit since he had last paid attention to it.

If they’ve traveled this far, it must mean that they were getting close to their destination.

Kuroo could never figure out how Iwaizumi and Bokuto knew exactly where they were even if everything looked exactly the same for miles and miles. Kuroo was better at knowing where he was from landmarks, and out on the open sea, there rarely is one.

While he does struggle with knowing exactly where they are, he always does have a pretty good idea, keeping in mind the direction they went and how long they traveled. The crew tried not to go terribly far from the shore in case of emergencies, but they still always went pretty far out. 

Kuroo knew they were going to reach where they would be fishing within the next twenty minutes. With that in mind, he looked back into the water below him.

And that’s when he saw the mermaid.

It was the same mermaid from last week, the one they accidentally caught in their net. 

Both of their eyes went wide, not expecting the other to be there. Before Kuroo could do anything, the mermaid ducked back under the surface.

Kuroo was disappointed, but he could still see the mermaid swimming alongside the boat. He was in so much awe that he didn’t even think about calling out for Bokuto or Iwaizumi to let them know. He just leaned against the railing and watched the mermaid with fascination.

After a few minutes, the mermaid slowly lifted his head out of the water again, staring cautiously at Kuroo. Kuroo gave a small wave with a goofy grin. The mermaid watched his movement and looked unimpressed.

When Kuroo dropped his arm back into the railing, the mermaid’s eyes didn’t leave his arm. Kuroo looked down and saw what the boy was looking at. The scratches he received from the other were in the process of healing, and he wasn’t wearing gauze. The scratches looked worse than they were.

“Oh don’t worry about it, I’m fine. They barely hurt anymore.” The mermaid almost ducked back under the water at his voice but then decided otherwise. He seemed to think over his words a little before giving a small nod. Kuroo still found it strange how not only were their mermaids, but they understood what he was saying. This made Kuroo curious about whether they could talk. “I’m Kuroo by the way. What’s your name?”

The mermaid seemed to contemplate with himself on speaking or not, a call from behind Kuroo startled the both of them.

“Kuroo! What the hell are you doing? Get over here and help with the-” Iwaizumi stopped mid-sentence as he laid eyes on the mermaid next to the boat. The boy looked uncomfortable under the attention it was getting and looked as if it was going to go back under the surface. 

Before anything else could be said, another head popped out from below the surface. A silver-haired mermaid placed itself between the other one and it gave a hiss at the fishermen on board. They both took a step back to show they didn’t mean harm. 

In Kuroo’s mind, he was trying to figure out exactly how many mermaids there were. How many of the half-man, half-fish are there under the surface?

This mermaid was somehow scarier than the other one. He had not a single trace of fear in his frame and he was in full protection mode. He reached behind him, grabbed the smaller mermaid, and pushed him under the surface before he himself dove under.

A moment of silence went around them until “hey, what are you guys doing?” Bokuto bounded up behind them.

“Bro! I talked to him! The mermaid from the other day! He was here!”

Iwaizumi grumbled something before stalking off to where the nets were, the duo following right behind him. 

“You talked to him?! Cool!! What’d he say?” 

“Well he didn’t actually get a chance to respond, but he was going to.”

“Was the pretty one there too?”

“No, but there was another one there. He had silver hair.”

Bokuto seemed disappointed by the information. He probably wanted to see the black-haired mermaid again. Not that Kuroo could judge, seeing as he really wanted to see the smaller mermaid as well. 

With another shout from Iwaizumi, the two got to work on getting the net into the water. Kuroo had an extra pep in his step. He was really happy to see the mermaid again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we have another chapter! :D i hope you liked it!!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi thanks for reading!! I’m not quite sure how long this will be but I had this idea and I just had to write it!! I hope you enjoyed! :D


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